Report: South Carolina teens having fewer wrecks

Tuesday

Jan 4, 2005 at 12:28 AM

Associated Press

MYRTLE BEACH -- Teen drivers in South Carolina were involved in fewer crashes over the past four years, according to an insurance industry report. But some experts say more can be done to reduce accidents among the state's newest and youngest drivers.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety compares the effect of the nation's driving laws for youth. The group recently rated South Carolina's laws as fair, up from the marginal rating the state got when the institute's last report came out in 2000.

Institute spokesman Russ Rader says the change comes from the state's graduated driver-licensing laws, which went into effect in 1998. Such laws require teen drivers to gradually receive full-driving privileges.

Allison Love of the South Carolina Insurance News Service says the laws' positive effect can be seen throughout the state.

Teen-driver crashes in South Carolina declined nearly 1 percent in 1999, to 13.8 percent from 14.5 percent in 1997 and 1998, according to the most recent information from the Insurance News Service.

Other states are stricter

But other states have taken stricter tactics with younger drivers. North Carolina makes teens drive with adults for one year, twice as long as South Carolina, before they can drive by themselves.

Rob Foss, senior research scientists at the University of North Carolina's Highway Safety Research Center in Chapel Hill, N.C., says that's why teen crashes there have fallen by up to 37 percent during the same time period.

South Carolina state Sen. Phil Leventis, D-Sumter, serves on the Senate Transportation Committee.

Ashley Johnson, 18, of Aynor, said a few people she knows took driver's education to get on the road earlier without adult supervision. She says that led to their early accidents.

Johnson had her learner's permit for a year, driving with her parents and, she says, giving her more experience on how to ride the roads safely.

"It's worse with your parents in the car because you're scared you will do something wrong," she said. "When you have to have someone with you, you drive very carefully."

Johnson's mother, Sylvia, is confident her daughter is a good, safe driver.

"I just taught her what to do, and she went by it," Sylvia Johnson said.

Chris Yahnis, 15, of Murrells Inlet, expects to have a conditional license letting him drive without an adult before he turns 16.

"Driving at 15 is good because you can learn earlier," Yahnis said. "I think it's a good age to learn this kind of stuff."

At least 40 states now have graduated driver-licensing laws in some form, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

State public schools struggle to teach young drivers because of crowded classes and long waiting lists, said Ruth Earls, education associate in the South Carolina Education Department's Office of Curriculum and Standards.

Still, parents should enhance the training by driving with their children. "They will copy what they've learned from parents," Hard wick said.

Public Safety Department spokesman Sid Gaulden says keeping roads safe for young drivers in South Carolina is a continuing challenge.

"We had a news conference about that in October, because we had about 13 teenagers killed in a month," Gaulden said.

Gaulden says officials try and combat crashes with public-awareness campaigns and special enforcement projects such as "Final Exam," a program in 2004 that sought to reduce drinking and driving among teens at the end of the school year.

Leventis said more should be done. But other lawmakers don't see much chance of tightening the laws when the Legislature returns to session this month.

Managing families

Former House of Representatives member Becky Richardson said she wanted the state's minimum driving age raised to 16 in 2002. "I had the most opposition from the legislators," she said.

At the time, many parents wanted the younger driving age because it helped them manage their families.

Leventis says he would back raising the age people can drive without supervision.

"Driving is one of the most dangerous things that young people do," he said. "We are just about at the point where 15 is getting to be too young. It's not a function of the age of the driver but of the traffic. There is more traffic on our roads."

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